UK tops the greetings cards charts

UK consumers lead the rest of the world in sending greetings cards, new Ofcom research reveals.

As the final posting date for Christmas arrives, Ofcom’s survey finds that more consumers in the UK send greetings cards than in any other country surveyed.

Over a third (37%) of UK adults said they had sent a greetings card, invitation or postcard in the post in the last month1 – the highest in the world and beating Australia into second spot (34%).

Consumers in France were the least likely to send greetings cards, with only 17% saying they had done so – half the amount in the UK.

James Thickett, Ofcom’s Director of Research, said: “Although we’re all increasingly using digital methods of communication, our research shows that the traditional greetings card still remains a popular choice for UK consumers.”

The findings were revealed in Ofcom’s International Communications Market report (PDF, 2.2 MB). Other countries surveyed included China, where 33% of consumers said they had sent a greetings card, invitation or postcard in the last month, compared to Italy (30%) Spain (19%) and Japan (23%).

NOTES

FOR EDITORS

In September 2012, consumers were asked, “Which of these types of mail would you say you have personally sent in the last month by post?”. The results shown above are for an invitation, card or postcard.